Vocabulary - Some and Every

I'm getting quite confused with the some- and every- words so I'm going to summarise them here. I thought I might as well include the no- words as well.

Dutch	English	Dutch	English	Dutch	English
sommig(e), wat	some	ieder(e)	every	geen	none
iemand	someone	iedereen	everyone	niemand	no one
iets	something	alles	everything	niets	nothing
ergens	somewhere	overal	everywhere	nergens	nowhere
soms	sometimes	altijd	always	nooit	never

Note that the no- words, apart from none and never, are just the some- words with an n in front.

Some more words to add to this collection are

alleen - only, alone
al - all
anders - other

Some

The English word some is used to express different meanings such as certain, a few or any. There are several words in Dutch which can be used for some. They are sommige, wat, een paar, enkele and enige. I'm just going to look at sommige, wat  and een paar for the moment.

Sommige is used when some is meant in the sense of certain. (Sommig in front of het words, sommige in front of de words and plurals.)

• Sommige winkels verkoopt brood. - Some (certain) shops sell bread.
• De winkel verkoopt cakes. Sommige smaken lekker! - The shop sells cakes. Some (of them) taste delicious!
• Hij leest sommige boeken. - He reads some (certain) books.
• Sommige dingen veranderen nooit. - Some things never change.
• Voor sommig werk moet je handig zijn. - For certain jobs, you must be handy.

(Reference: http://www.dutchgrammar.com/en/?n=Pronouns.Id09)

Wat and een paar are used when some means a few. Wat can always be used, whereas een paar can only be used before plural nouns. Note that wat also means what, and een paar literally means a pair.
(http://www.dutchgrammar.com/en/?n=Pronouns.Id12)

• Hij leest wat boeken. - He reads some books.
• Hij leest en paar boeken. - He reads some (a few) books.

• Hij at wat rijst. - He ate some rice. (Present tense: eet. Past: at) Een paar can not be used here.